Congress should step in to protect DACA

Friday

Sep 7, 2018 at 12:01 AMSep 7, 2018 at 9:04 PM

President Donald Trump recently confirmed that Attorney General Jeff Sessions will stay in his post as head of the U.S. Department of Justice at least until after the November election. That means the attorney general will continue to oversee the Trump administration’s challenges to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. That’s not good news, and it further underscores the need for Congress to act quickly on Dreamer legislation.

It was one year ago that Sessions announced the White House’s desire to shut down DACA. That news set off a series of legal challenges from several U.S. states wanting to help keep the program open and the Dreamers safe.

The Trump administration lost those challenges, but members of the president’s cabinet and White House staff recently placed their hopes of ending the program in the hands of a single judge in Texas. Last month this judge heard arguments from the Texas state attorney general who argued DACA has harmed his state (he didn’t really offer any evidence) and asked that the court give the Trump administration what it wants: an end to DACA.

Despite his personal opinions regarding DACA, the judge ruled on Aug. 31 in favor of the program, but the fight is hardly over. The district court judge told Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, and the six other states that joined him in the suit, that he would eventually like to shut down DACA himself. In fact, he gave Paxton three weeks to figure out what to do before the case moves on to a higher court.

If Paxton appeals the judge’s decision, the case will move to the U.S. Supreme Court, adding another layer of uncertainty to the future of the DACA program and its nearly 800,000 enrollees. Even if Brett Kavanaugh is confirmed to the court in the next month, it’s far from clear that the court will rule to protect the Dreamers from deportation.

In other words: our Dreamers are now in an even more perilous situation than they were a couple of months ago. Congress needs to step in this month and pass legislation that would allow the young people the chance to apply for and earn citizenship.

There are plenty of reasons, in addition to the legal urgency of the situation, that Congress should act quickly.

First, the American people are unequivocal about their desire to have Dreamers become a permanent part of the fabric of this country. According to a Fox News poll taken shortly after General Sessions’ announcement last year, 86 percent of Americans want DACA recipients to be able to continue to work in the United States. Almost 80 percent want them to have citizenship. (In fact, more than four in five Americans believe all undocumented immigrants should be allowed to earn legal status.)

Second, studies have concluded that the Dreamers are important for U.S. economic growth. University of California-San Diego Professor Tom Wong conducted a survey of more than 3,000 DACA recipients last year, in which he found that 90 percent are working and six percent have started their own companies since entering the program. (The other 10 percent are still either in school or the U.S. military.) Professor Wong said, "Our findings could not paint a clearer picture: DACA has been unreservedly good for the U.S. economy and for U.S. society more generally."

Finally, helping the Dreamers is a moral imperative. In his survey, Professor Wong also found the average age a DACA recipient arrived in the United States was six years old. Most of these young people are in their twenties now. They’ve lost touch with any family that might still be in their birth countries and it’s very well possible they don’t even speak their native tongue. Many came with parents fleeing poverty or violence.

In his remarks last year about ending DACA, General Sessions mentioned compassion. Shutting down this program wouldn’t be compassionate. The American people know what compassion is. It’s time Washington listens to us.

JULIO FUENTES, TALLAHASSEE

Editor’s note: Fuentes is president and CEO of the Florida State Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

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